Wednesday, April 25, 2018, Chicago – Today, stockholders in DowDuPont cast their final votes on three shareholder resolutions[1] addressing the company’s continuing liability for the Bhopal chemical disaster. The resolutions describe increasing shareholder concern that management is mishandling the ongoing Bhopal controversy and call on DowDuPont to disclose the cost of this controversy upon the company’s reputation, finances, and its ability to invest in expanding Asian markets.

“The Bhopal disaster is far from over – its impacts spread across multiple generations. Through no fault of their own, thousands of extremely poor families are left to struggle with lifelong illnesses,” says Martin Sheen, who in 2014 starred in a movie based on events leading up to the original gas tragedy. “It beggars belief that even now, in 2018, DowDuPont managers continue to hide from their responsibilities as business leaders, and as human beings.”

The 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal – known colloquially as the Hiroshima of the chemical industry – has claimed 25,000 lives to date and injured over 500,000. “Survivors suffer chronic long-term illnesses that outstrip the most dire predictions,” says Satinath Sarangi, Managing trustee of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal. “Recent studies find genetic damage is increasing[2], with incidences of cancer at ten times national rates within some groups[3]. Second and third generations are blighted by birth and developmental disorders[4].”

Dow Chemical – which completed a merger of equals with DuPont Nemours last year – inherited liability for Bhopal when it acquired Union Carbide in 2001[5]. It has since become a named party in civil, criminal and environmental actions in India.[6] “Dow Chemical senior executives purport to be committed to environmental sustainability yet they are ignoring the need for effective remedy of the Bhopal disaster,” remarked Austin Wilson of As You Sow, a non-profit shareholder advocacy organization, which filed a resolution requesting that executive pay be linked with sustainability. “A financial incentive for sustainability and corporate responsibility is necessary to ensure the company’s long-term success.”

Simon Billenness, President of CSR Strategy Group, says, “It’s clear that Dow’s disregard for the essential rights and dignity of Bhopal survivors has caused serious damage to its reputation, affecting growth prospects in India and beyond. Shareholders are therefore sending management a strong message that Bhopal can no longer be hidden away.”

India insists that a 1989 $470 million settlement with Union Carbide was based on death and injury figures “far removed from reality” and has filed a $1 billion civil case against Dow Chemical to cure what it terms a “gross miscarriage of justice”. Potential damages for criminal charges and for environmental contamination unrelated to the disaster remain pending. “Union Carbide is officially a ‘fugitive from justice’ for refusing to attend a manslaughter trial in India. Owner Dow Chemical has flouted at least five summons in the same criminal proceedings[7],” says Bhopal survivor Rashida Bi, a former winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. “Dow publicises its help providing clean water to Flint, Michigan[8], even as it chooses to allow toxic wastes dumped around its factory to contaminate drinking wells in 42 of our communities[9]. For these reasons we will continue to prevent DowDuPont from making any substantial investment in India[10].”

“Despite a clear fiduciary duty, Dow and DuPont management failed to inform shareowners that the merged company would assume the legal and reputational legacy of the Bhopal chemical disaster,” says Bruce Herbert of Investor Voice, filer of a third Bhopal resolution on behalf of beneficial owners of common stock. “Though India’s economy grows between 7-9% each year, DowDuPont are effectively being excluded from investing there.”­­­

#Bhopal33 | PM Modi and CM Chauhan: Are You Listening?

Having failed, despite repeated requests, to present their grievances before the Prime
Minister for the last three years and the Chief Minister for the last six years, survivors of
the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal have launched a novel way to draw much
needed attention to their five most urgent issues of rehabilitation, justice and adequate
compensation.

Help the survivors draw the attention of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Read inspiring narratives of suffering, courage and solidarity as our community of Survivors, Activists, Volunteers and Allies relate their personal stories. Email Us if you would like to write a blog post.